"Children enter school with wide differences both in their exposure to text and in what they know about text" (pg. 154) 

This sentence stuck out to me in the reading because I believe that is the number one reason children are either successful or slow readers. We read in the introduction to the chapter one case, Lee, who is exposed to language from the time she wakes up in the morning to the time she goes to bed. Whether its practicing the alphabet with her mom, watching Sesame street, going to Kindergarten, or her father reading to her, she is constantly increasing her phonological awareness even if she is not aware of it. Lee is one of the lucky children. Due to her exposure to language and literacy she will most likely have very little trouble grasping the concept of reading and understanding language. There will be kids in Lee's class who do not have parents at home constantly teaching them the alphabet or at home at night to read to them. These kids will not be very phonologically aware in the sense that they will have trouble recognizing letters, applying sounds to them, and putting words together in order to understand reading. The chapter discusses the importance of exposure to language as well as free reading, letter identification exercises, journals, etc. in order to improve students reading and writing skills. My question would be, as a teacher, how can we get the students that come into our classes at a lower skill level up to speed with the rest of the class or reading to the best of their possible ability?